Student, 20, who had weeks to live wakes for first time after New Year’s Eve heart transplant

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Will Pope the 20 Year Old Student with weeks to live woken from coma to be told he was given a life saving Heart Transplant.
COPYRIGHT PICTURE: ITV

A university student aged 20 who was told he had only weeks to live has woken for the first time since undergoing a heart transplant on New Year’s Eve.

Will Pope’s mother, Rosie, today spoke of the family’s relief when he came round yesterday, following the 12-hour operation involving two surgical teams.

Mr Pope, a talented musician from Buckinghamshire, suffered heart failure in August last year after contracting what doctors believe was an infection while abroad. His heart had to be removed and replaced with a mechanical device with a limited lifespan of 10 weeks.

He was placed on the urgent transplant list at Harefield Hospital in Uxbridge. His plight was the subject of an ITV documentary, Waiting for a Heart and, just as hopes were fading, a donor was found.

There followed an anxious wait for Mrs Pope, composer husband Philip, 56, and their other sons, Matthew, 17 and Guy, 14. “Will was lucky to get a heart at the 11th hour,” said Mrs Hope, 54, a media lawyer.

“He’s so used to waking up and finding something has not gone to plan, but now he has hope, you can see it in his eyes.” Mr Pope is on a ventilator and unable to speak, said his mother. “When I told him he’d had the operation and had a new heart I said, ‘Do you feel normal’ and he nodded. It’s the first time he’s felt normal for a long time. His nod said it all. His new heart is the best gift anyone can ever give, it’s the gift of life.”

In the documentary the Bristol University student, a former pupil at Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe, said: “I would just like to have a heart. It’s a little bit terrifying and hard to come to terms with the thought of losing my life. I am at peace with that, but for my family it’s very difficult.”

He is now the face of the WillPower campaign, launched by his parents to boost the number of young people who sign up to the NHS organ donor register. “There are so many people waiting for hearts and our campaign is about getting people talking about donation,” said Mrs Pope.

“If you lose somebody you’re in despair and feel it’s the most terrible waste of a life, and I think it really can help if you know something has come out of it, that someone’s life may be saved.”

One in five patients dies waiting for a heart transplant because of the chronic shortage of donor organs. The identity of Mr Pope’s donor has been kept secret because of the rules governing such transplants. But Mrs Pope said: “I hope that one day we will know their identity so that we can thank the family. That will be quite a long way down the road.”